US State Department commends the creation of an anti-corruption court in Ukraine
The United States commends Ukraine for adopting a law on the Anti-Corruption Court and emphasizes the need to amend the law that will ensure this court considers existing cases under its jurisdiction, stated US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.
"The United States commends Ukraine for adopting a law to establish an independent anti-corruption court. We were pleased to see this important piece of legislation passed with broad support in the Verkhovna Rada. With this move, Ukraine took an important step towards achieving the European future its people demanded during the Revolution of Dignity," Heather Nauert stated.
The United States also welcomes IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde’s statements on the matter.
"She and President Poroshenko have agreed the Verkhovna Rada should quickly amend the law so that this court will be able to hear all cases under its jurisdiction, including existing corruption cases, and pass supplementary legislation to formally establish the court,” Nauert stated.
The United States hopes that these steps will help "to roll back the corruption that threatens Ukraine's national security, its prosperity and democratic development."
On June 7, the Verkhovna Rada adopted law Number 7440 on the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine. 315 MPs voted in favor of the bill. President Petro Poroshenko signed it into law on June 11. However, Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk and some deputies claim that another law is needed to establish the court.
International anti-corruption network Transparency International has called for changes in the law on Anti-corruption court, which will delay the trials against corrupt officials. It seeks an amendment that establishes that appeals in NABU cases, which the courts already consider now, should be considered in the courts of general jurisdiction and not in the Anti-Corruption Court.
Earlier, Anti-Corruption Action Center reported that this amendment was not at the conciliative table `published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada.
The amendment appeared in the published text of the law. This amendment was not read by the Chairman of the Committee of Law and Justice Ruslan Knyazevych in the session hall before the law was adopted, and it was not discussed in the Committee.